Waking up in Taitun

08.

"Some of the remnants of Mimic seem to be hiding somewhere in Yokohama."

"Hey, that's right," the boy's voice was somewhat casual, "It's really useless, didn't they all run over to stop it, why did you let them get here?"

"Those people are not ordinary people. They are well-trained and won't be stopped so easily." Thinking of something, Mori Ogai stopped and added, "And their leader is also very difficult."

He singled out this sentence, as if emphasizing the unusualness of the other party's leader, then with wine-red eyes slightly narrowed, he casually looked at the young man at the side of the long table, Dazai Osamu seemed to have no bones, Leaning crookedly against the wall beside him, he covered his mouth with his hands and yawned. He turned his eyes to look at him after he noticed his gaze. There was still some physiological moisture in those kite eyes.

So Mori Ogai's eyebrows and eyes began to become helpless, even with a bit of a wry smile on his expression, he looked at the cadre he valued and asked.

"Hey, Dazai, regarding Gide, who do you think the port mafia would send to deal with it better?"

When Osamu Dazai heard him call his name, he stood up straighter as if he was lifted up by something—more or less not as if he was facing something that needed to be bothered, but as if he was suddenly pulled to make up his head As a group performer, he looked at the smiling leader with half-drowned eyes, and laughed out loud after watching for a few seconds.

"What, is the leader pushing everything to me?"

Mori Ogai also laughed, and didn't care about the cadre's tone and stance that were completely different from the leader's. The cadre Osamu Dazai made a big mistake, and that selfishness seems to be able to take care of everything for the cadre—although Dazai Osamu has never failed the responsibilities of a cadre. In the past two years, almost half of the benefits gained by the port mafia are due to the credit of this young cadre. The amount of billions is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

"No, it's just that Dazai's suggestions are always very effective." Mori Ogai sighed, and stroked his bangs that had slipped with his hands. He glanced at the blonde girl beside him, with a bitter expression on his face: " mimic really bothers me, I don’t even have time to go shopping for clothes for Alice.”

Alice frowned when she heard her name being called. She stared back at Mori Ogai with an indescribable gaze—if that gaze were to be described, it would take some time to describe it. The vocabulary is reminiscent of how I feel when I look at something uncomfortable on weekdays. The little girl pouted and muttered something, and then remembered that the guy in white hadn’t taken her to buy dessert before she was angry again: "Dead heart Rintaro, I won't buy a skirt from you!"

Mori Owai coughed loudly, as if he wanted to use this cough to cover up some loss of face. He ignored Alice's yelling, and reached out to pick up the quill on the table. No intention of writing, just dangling around in the air.His half-closed eyes suddenly opened a little, looking straight at Osamu Dazai, he said a little abruptly.

"Also, if the mimic is resolved earlier, wouldn't Dazai be free to go drink in your tavern during this time?"

There was a childish smile on Mori Ogai's face, an expression that couldn't see any real meaning, as if he was joking with his subordinates casually in a harmless joke.

"The leader thinks really well," the young cadre echoed nonchalantly, with a light and unnecessary expression on his face, as if he couldn't hear any deep meaning, and seemed to stay out of the matter, "After all, do you want to push the matter to me. He didn't hide his complaints in his tone, and looked at Mori Ogai with extremely dissatisfied and somewhat cold eyes.

"I will definitely make up for you after this matter is resolved, Dazai," the leader's face showed a relaxed expression as if the matter had been settled. He looked at Dazai with a smile, and his wine-red eyes showed some deviation. Deep Purple's illusion came, and a gentle smile appeared on his face as always.

"Then let's talk about Gide first?" He put the quill in his hand back into the pen holder, and his smile suddenly changed to the original distressed look, "Chuya can't get away for a while, Hongye is still busy with other things Something, Dazai," he called the cadre's name, and began to repeat the previous question.

Osamu Dazai's eyes turned cold quietly, the arc of his mouth did not change, but there were some emotions that could not discern the true meaning mixed in the silence, he listened to the leader's rather tangled words.

"Who does Dazai think I should send?"

"I remember, Dazai, you had a very capable subordinate in the slum, but Akutagawa-kun's words may be too naive..."

"...Who should I send, Dazai?"

Mori Ogai raised his eyes, and said casually: "I remember Dazai mentioned it before, it is said that he never needs to be shot—"

The white tiger has been quiet since being led into the chief's room by the young man. The surrounding environment is extremely strange, completely unfamiliar with the environment it was in before. Slightly moving its ears to detect the movement, it raised its purple-gold eyes, and its eyes turned in a big circle among the tables, chandeliers, windows, oil paintings, platinum candlesticks, etc. On Dazai Osamu.

——An unfamiliar environment represents danger, and it needs to raise its nerves at the first moment. This is its habit, and it is a habit it has developed every time it was taken to the 'club' by Dazai when it took a chance.

The white tiger's cub doesn't like humans. It was abducted and separated from the group not long after it was born, and has been trapped in chains and cages ever since. The chain was heavy and unfriendly to the growth and development of the cub's bones. It fell on the backbone of the cub, crushing the cub again and again in the dark and dark truck. Standing figure.

Cubs don't like humans. All humans who try to get close to it will immediately let out a deep roar. It's immature but intimidating. It waves its claws and gnashes its teeth loudly. Figures, benevolent or malicious, each felt a little apprehensive when being stared at by the vertical pupil. Because of the size of the cub, the apprehension was slight, but it really existed.

But Baihu met Osamu Dazai by accident again later. At that time, the boy's eyes were interested in giving alms, and they were a bit dark. At first, it was trapped firmly, but later its canines sank into the boy's forearm. Its claws mess up the texture, and its eyes occasionally look at the kite eyes of human beings when the twilight is reflected in the twilight, or when the boy's heart is shining with sparks—so unknowingly, Osamu Dazai has become an independent Individuals other than humans.

It's human, but not 'human', the cub defines it with such a vague feeling in his heart.

He is a guy who is different from the people around him. He can pick its neck, pull its hair, break its teeth, touch its forehead, pull its tail, pat its head, and On a whim, he would grab it and hold it in his arms... There is only one guy who can do such a thing without making the cub bark its teeth and show no hostility.

The white tiger was not consciously paying attention to Osamu Dazai, so the cub sniffed lightly, sneezed a little, and then raised its eyes to look at Osamu Dazai. Its eyes showed the ignorance of a childish, pure beast, so it was not noticed by the outside world. The overaffected eyes suddenly stopped after seeing the dark color quietly gathered in Dazai Osamu's eyes.

Mori Ogai stopped in the middle of his words, and the leader watched in a daze as the tiger cub nestled in the cadre's arms suddenly began to struggle. It jumped out of Dazai Osamu's arms, and its front paws jumped on the ground as a buffer. , Then after stepping on the ground, he bared his teeth at the leader who crossed his fingers in front of the mahogany table in a daze.

It was a different low growl and attitude from the one in front of the young cadres. The white tiger yelled at Mori Ogai, who was on the mahogany table with his arms crossed and smiling gently, on all fours. Even forward, revealing canine teeth faintly shining with sharpness.

The hair of the white tiger's whole body was blown up, and it stared at the person not far in front of it with straight pupils. It met the wine-red eyes that were slightly closed, and it couldn't understand the meaning of speciousness, so it only released its hostility frankly.The tiger's claws were exerting force, and the tip of the claws had sunk into the carpet on the floor of the chief's room. Those claws had scratched the cadres' coats many times in the past, but they only scratched the texture, and now they sank deeper. Zhizhi completely destroyed the original exquisite pattern.

Its growl was not short-lived, it was different from the previous shortness when it was fully enraged, the immature but low-pitched anger of the cub took off the natural milkiness of the cub, when its bright yellow pupils narrowed, The low growl seemed to be accumulating strength, together with the continuously retracted claws, the tensed muscles of the prostrate forelimbs and hind limbs.

——Like an arrow that is about to leave Hyun, when it gathers enough strength, it will rush forward and tear the person in front of it.

The leader paused for a moment, his eyes narrowed and speechless, the tiger was ready to go, and the girl in a foreign dress quietly glanced over with her cold sapphire blue eyes.

Osamu Dazai's face was stunned for a moment, he lowered his eyes to look at the white tiger in front of him who was staring at Mori Ogai with his eyes tense, he heard those low growls, he paused for a while and suddenly laughed, bent down When the cub was about to jump out, he blindfolded it and hugged it back.

The cadre's laughter suddenly broke the stagnant atmosphere created by the white tiger's inexplicable action. Mori Ogai's expression did not change, and he smiled as before to see that mental method, which made people feel afraid and guarded He glanced at the white tiger that was still looking ferocious: "Is this the white tiger that Dazai picked up before?" He didn't care much about the immature and green hostility, just smiled and said: "It looks like he will become a very reliable partner in the future."

The leader lowered his eyes, and the wine red suddenly turned into a light dark color. He advised his highly valued subordinates with concern, and said intentionally or unintentionally with an elder's attitude: "But now, the minions haven't grown yet. Well, let him show his figure, Dazai must be careful, don't let this little guy dare to provoke someone he can't resist."

Osamu Dazai just laughed, and opened his eyes after laughing to his heart's content: "It's not like this usually, it's weak and doesn't look like a beast." He raised his eyebrows and looked at Mori Ogai who was sitting in front of him: " Maybe it's just that Mr. Mori doesn't like it."

The young man hugged the cub in a good mood, and the white tiger's eyes were caught off guard by a layer of darkness. It didn't struggle like it did when it first met Osamu Dazai. After smelling the familiar smell of Osamu Dazai, the cub subconsciously put it away. Seeing the claws on its limbs and the hostility that was exposed, it let out a low cry, confused and puzzled.

The cub was held in his arms, and his vision was still blocked by Osamu Dazai's hand. It could hear the unhurried heartbeat in the young man's chest with one ear, and retreated from the original hostile state. When it came out, the cub was looking for its usual state, showing a little bit of claws——with the claws that were sure it wouldn't hurt Osamu Dazai, it scratched at the cadre's white shirt.

Osamu Dazai played back and forth with Mori Ogai a few more times in a slow manner, and he moved his hand helplessly after he noticed that the cub's claws were making a lot of noise on his white shirt, and he touched it soothingly. He stroked the white tiger's head, and followed the cub's previously frizzed hair. The cadre smoothed the cub's hair with a smile on his face, and looked back at the leader with a smile that could not be detected from his kite eyes: " It's more or less my property, and if it causes trouble, I'll take care of it."

"After all, no matter what, it is so presumptuous for me."

"But Mr. Sen should be more careful, maybe at any time, if you don't pay attention for a while, the rein of your hand will be taken off."

When the white tiger's vision became brighter, he poked out his eyes and saw that the cadre looked a little different from before. It didn't move the tip of its claws that was caught by a thin thread on the white shirt that was pulled out earlier, but just looked at Osamu Dazai in confusion—— It couldn't detect the unhappiness leaked by the boy before.

"Let's stop talking about the mimic first." Osamu Dazai raised the white tiger in his arms slightly, shaking the cub's presence, "It's almost time for its meal, this guy seems a little impatient gone."

"If Mr. Mori wants to continue the chat, maybe it will start barking again if it doesn't like it."

Osamu Dazai had an inexplicable smile on his face, the smile was shallow and faint, and he couldn't figure out any deep meaning. He stretched out his finger and pointed at Baihu's forehead in front of Mori Ogai, looking for a lesson of strength that was not too heavy. He said, looking for a word of farewell casually in front of Mori Ogai, he said he would leave if he wanted to leave, without waiting for Mori Ogai's response or the leader's permission, he just turned around like that and walked like before he came. The lazy pace left again.

Mori Ogai, who was watching the young man's back leaving behind him, inadvertently opened his eyes, which deeply and lightly reflected the young man's back.

The leader's face showed a bit of an expression of not knowing how to deal with such a casual Dazai Osamu, and it was more like the expression of an adult who sees a child with some headaches, but when Alice hugged her drawing board When passing by, the leader of the port mafia rolled his eyes lightly, sighed lightly, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

——It's a cool arc, but everything is under control.

"Alice," he called out, not caring much about whether he would get a response from the girl, as if he just randomly searched for a name to start the conversation at first, "Have you heard back from the consultant?"

"You are so annoying, Rintaro," the girl in the magenta dress turned her head and looked angrily at Mori Ogai, who was in front of the mahogany table and closed his eyes, thinking about some important event, "Let me tell you first! You have no specific arrangements after talking with that guy who helped Oda as planned, and I won't go shopping with you to the small skirt shop!"

"Hey," Mori Ogai opened his eyes in a panic, and he no longer had the deep look of the port mafia leader before. His wine red eyes were filled with great shock, and his face showed a look of frustration. Looking at Alice, "Alice-chan, didn't you agree yesterday?!"

He stared wide-eyed, with a dull expression, as if he was deeply shocked by the girl's words and completely forgot that there would be a bottom-level employee coming up to answer the leader's summons. Hooking on the legs of the stool and falling to the ground—this would be a stupid posture facing the ground, which should never be thrown by someone like the Port Mafia.

"Alice Sauce~"

"I don't want it! And it was clearly agreed yesterday that I would change into a foreign dress and you took me to eat dessert! It's not to buy those dresses that Rintaro likes!"

"Then, if Alice-chan puts on this dress again, I'll take you to the newly opened dessert shop in the street!"

"No! I already changed one today! Rintaro, you are too cunning! Even if you don't take me there, I can go to Momiji and Chuya!"

"Chuya and Momiji are both busy with work, please Alice-chan, you can just wear it through, okay? Look at this crimson ruffle that looks like a petal! It must look great on you!"

"Rintaro, you are so annoying! If you say no, you don't want it! I don't want to wear this dress either!"

"Oh, oh, you can't take off your clothes on the floor. I chose them carefully and painstakingly. Oh, oh, don't step on that one. That dress is very expensive——"

—

"You guys are quite what I like sometimes." While humming an unknown tune and walking towards his seat in the office, recalling the seemingly unchanged expression of Mori Ogai just now, Osamu Dazai showed a smile on his face. A joy that was only manifested simply because of Mori Ogai's inconspicuous displeasure, that inexplicable joy was alive between his brows and eyes, as soon as the boy stepped out of the French door of the chief's room, A certain emotion in the bottom of my heart fermented and touched Baihu's head a few times.

"Well, although it made him start to be on guard against me again, it's really rare for him to look unhappy." Osamu Dazai lowered his eyes to look at the ignorant beast, with a smile that seemed to have an evil intention at the corner of his mouth.

"You're doing great," he said.

The cadre also sits on his mahogany table casually. He always does this. The purpose of all actions is to make himself happy. For this reason, there is no taboo. He sits on his mahogany table. The small stack of documents neatly packed by his subordinates was messed up due to his large and reckless movements. The top few documents had already fallen to the ground, and a few unfixed papers flew out here and there.

He placed the cub on the mahogany table in the office, with its ears raised, and its tiger ears moved in the direction of Osamu Dazai. The cub naturally couldn't understand a bunch of inexplicable words that Osamu Dazai said, but it But because of its wild intuition, it sensed something from the exposed joy, so it calmed down, and when Osamu Dazai was talking to himself, he didn't fight like in the past.

The tiger cub was lying beside the young man, with its forelimbs flat on the table and its claws stretched forward. Just looking at the surface, it looked like Dazai Ji was usually bored and lazy. It seemed to be moving its ears in response, and there was no more movement, it was just quiet, as if it was waiting for something.It wasn't until the boy's ending sound was suddenly mixed with a few traces of the real coolness towards others that he usually faces, that he raised his eyes to see the boy's appearance at this moment—the indifferent expression similar to some previous moments, with all emotions faded away.

Osamu Dazai finally said a sentence that seemed to praise the cub, and he was inexplicably satisfied inside and out. His voice was different from the funny smile when talking with his subordinates sometimes, and it was not mixed with his personality. The indifference and coldness under the reputation of the five major cadres, when he said that sentence, his voice was soft, with a hint of unfinished words.

But this sentence was different from the usual, and from the lowered voice he had faced the back of his subordinate before leaving, he added a little more silence, and added a certain unknown emotion that Bai Hu had never felt these days.

The tips of the white tiger's ears moved again. When the boy's voice was cheerful before, it was lying lazily. Ren Dazai held his head and just lay there quietly, but the emotions brought by the last sentence just started When the traces appeared, the white tiger's claws moved along with the tips of the ears, and the next moment he stood up and raised his eyes to see Dazai Osamu's expression.

It was the emotion that the cub didn't understand. The boy's voice gradually became softer, but the emotion that had begun to appear in him since the first time his subordinates conveyed the leader's summons was gradually increasing. The feeling of fame was suppressed and reduced to almost invisible when the leader in white smiled, but it suddenly spread out in front of his eyes.

——Invisibly, widely spread, when there is no other existence around the moment.

Baihu raised his eyes and saw the boy's appearance. Osamu Dazai's eyes were not focused, he just watched the scene outside the window with a quiet look, his eyes were a little empty, and seemed to be rising in a thick fog, so it followed the boy's sight follow.

Outside the window is a very wide view, at first glance the city of Yokohama, which has not changed much from before. The view from the window is divided into two areas by the distant horizon. Below are the buildings that are constantly climbing upwards. From the perspective of looking down from the heights, you can see scattered and irregular streets and alleys, which are densely intertwined. The wide or narrow streets extend to the distance and extend to the inside. , There are also those who randomly search for other directions, but those streets are extending, and there are countless people walking or staying on them that are the same as in the past.

It should have been like this, the cub would always jump and stay in front of the window with the boy for a short moment after its left paw was healed. It was I who jumped up on the window sill and screamed to see Osamu Dazai approaching. They will be watching the city in a quiet and soft time at a certain moment, watching the ground from the tall dark building Ordinary smiling people.

But the cub's sight is blocked at this moment, blocked by the existence like the dark building they are in, it can't see the usual blue and blue sky, the soft white and soft white clouds, and the white birds flying past. The figure fell into the back of the pitch-black building from one side, and the white tiger could not see its trajectory when it flew out. And the people who had just shown their figures were also covered by the black and disappeared.

It wasn't the previous window, Baihu realized belatedly, what it followed Dazai Osamu's line of sight was another window.

Outside this window, there are four seemingly identical pitch-black buildings, pitch-black, covering the sky, the cub turns its head and looks back at the boy, and Osamu Dazai's eyes are staring at the pitch-black buildings from beginning to end.

The pitch black is not the blue sky, nor the soft white clouds.

They seemed to have waited for a long time in the inexplicable quiet atmosphere unintentionally brewed by Dazai Osamu, but it was only a few seconds before Dazai Osamu broke the silence again.

"What a good boy."

The young man withdrew his drowsy and dark gaze, and turned to land on the tiger who didn't know when to stick out a claw and landed on his coat. The tip of the claw was slightly protruding, as if it was grasping something but it hadn't had time to withdraw its claw In the past, when the cubs put the tip of their claws on the black coat, Osamu Dazai would always scream in surprise and open his eyes wide, clamoring about the cub's unreasonable willfulness, showing a fresh and immature appearance, but now, Osamu Dazai stretched out his hand, touching the white tiger's fur with his fingertips, his usual smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then continued the previous words: "As a compliment, let Guangjin take you to meet your new friends tomorrow. "

"The person in charge of the clubhouse earlier sent some news. It seems that there are members of your family in the goods this time. If you meet them, you will probably be able to stimulate more of the animal nature you should have."

Osamu Dazai looked at Tiger who raised his eyes and wondered if he could understand what he said, and said the following words with dark eyes: "However, the size and strength of those few are stronger than yours."

"If you are weak and unable to rush up," Osamu Dazai said in a low voice, as if looking at the cub who was staring up at him with concern: "Then you will stay there forever."

Did the young tiger understand? Didn’t he understand? Osamu Dazai looked at the tiger who rubbed against his arm with purple-gold eyes. He felt the intimacy of the young beast, and was driven by some unknown emotion in his heart. He suddenly stretched out his hand to find the white tiger's left paw, and turned to look at the wound he had stitched up—the trace was so faint that it was about to disappear. loosen up.

The white tiger let him hold its claws, and looked at Dazai Osamu who was in an inexplicable emotion for some inexplicable reasons. It barked softly, still confused.

"...It would be great if people were all idiots like you," the cadre put away his unnecessary expression, lowered his eyes to look at the cub in front of him, he eased some unknown emotion in his heart, and recalled the leader's room Those conversations sighed: "It's really uncomfortable, when it falls into other people's plans and is counted."

Osamu Dazai's eyes drifted to the window that reflected the other buildings of the port mafia, and he didn't look at the white tiger on the other side. He seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to be saying that he would not give him any response. Baihu said something softly.

"That person is really...Although he almost fell into the stage of being unable to do anything like that night." Osamu Dazai said in a voice that could not hear any ups and downs. In the clip of bleeding flowers, he looked at the dark building standing outside the window, and continued with a non-fluctuating voice in his heart, that time he was completely tricked into it...

"It's so funny," Baihu heard the young man say this suddenly without beginning or end. After saying this, Osamu Dazai suddenly seemed to be out of a certain state. He stretched out his hand and put his thumb against his lips, and then retracted I lowered my head and began to think to myself: "Well, but if I still feel unhappy because of him, in a sense, I'm letting him succeed...?"

"Sure enough, you can't use your original emotions to relate the current events, after all, those things haven't happened yet..."

Osamu Dazai's face suddenly showed a calm look, and his whole body relaxed from the original state of being chased by something. The boy's back seemed to be slack without any support. He closed his eyes, and when he opened his eyes, he jumped off the mahogany table together, and the sound of paper squeaking followed his movements.

"Ah, seems to have stepped on something...?"

Baihu looked in the direction of the sound. The one that was stepped on by Osamu Dazai was the paper that fell on the ground due to a large movement. The font size - mimic.

"What, it's all annoying and headaches." Osamu Dazai kicked the paper according to his temper, and kicked the paper away.

The cub sat upright on the mahogany table and saw his movements. For no reason, it just felt that the cadre was separated from that unknown state and that indescribable mood again.

The white tiger froze in place for a while, and his eyes fell unconsciously on Osamu Dazai's coat which was moving due to the movement. The hem of the coat was constantly moving, and the cub fell into a state of concentration. It opened its eyes wide and fixed its gaze on From time to time, it moved the hem of the dark clothes. It was suppressing its mood, but it moved its claws unconsciously——

"Ah! Stupid tiger! Don't scratch my coat!"